Lehman Bros locked in new equity talks September 1, 2008 Lehman Brothers, the troubled Wall Street investment bank, was holding intensive talks this weekend over a much-needed injection of billions of dollars in new equity capital. Korea Development Bank (KDB), the South Korean government-backed institution, which last week appeared to have lost its appetite for Lehman, is thought to have returned to the table to [...]
Premier falls on failed well in Vietnam August 29, 2008 Shares in Premier Oil slumped 6 per cent yesterday, after the British-based oil explorer revealed that a Vietnam well it had been drilling had failed. The firm, led by chief executive Simon Lockett, said its Chim Cong well was being plugged and abandoned because “the oil flow rate achieved was marginal”. Its stock closed down [...]
UK asks NATO to get tough with Russia August 28, 2008 British Foreign Secretary David Miliband yesterday called on the EU and NATO to initiate “hard-headed engagement” with Russia in response to its actions in Georgia. Speaking in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, he said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had a big responsibility not to start a new Cold War. “Russia has not reconciled itself to the new [...]
O’Brien attacks INM August 28, 2008 Denis O’Brien, a major shareholder in Independent News & Media (INM), has called on the group to “urgently” review the operations of its flagship titles The Independent and Belfast Telegraph after first-half profits tumbled. While the group grew its underlying revenues by three per cent in the six months to 30 June, adjusted earnings per [...]
TNS rebuffs WPP despite GfK walk out August 28, 2008 Market research company Taylor Nelson Sofre said it would continue to fight WPP’s hostile bid even after its preferred bidder GfK walked away from a takeover deal yesterday because it could not raise enough cash. German GfK had been trying to raise financing with private equity groups and wealth investors to launch a rival takeover [...]
Private data sold on eBay, admit banks August 27, 2008 Account holders’ personal details have been found on a computer sold on eBay, banks said yesterday, adding to growing fears over data security. Details of more than a million customers of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), American Express and NatWest were found on the computer sold for £35 on the auction and shopping website. RBS [...]
Clinton to rally round Obama August 27, 2008 Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama sought to heal the wounds of their bruising nominating battle yesterday and unite the Democratic party behind Obama’s bid to seize the White House from the Republicans. Clinton will give a speech meant to lift a shadow over this week’s convention that will crown Obama, 47, a first-term Illinois senator, [...]
Cairn reports mixed results August 27, 2008 Cairn Energy, the Scottish oil and gas explorer, reported a drop in first half post-tax profits yesterday as it sold fewer shares in its Indian unit. Profit after tax dropped to $375m (£204m) in the first half, down from $1.5bn year–on–year, amid concern from investors that the Indian government could impose windfall taxes on its [...]
Mortgage squeeze causes profits to plunge at Bovis August 27, 2008 Housebuilder Bovis yesterday blamed the mortgage squeeze for an 83 per cent slump in first half profit and said it was “the toughest period of trading it has experienced in its life as a public company”. Pre-tax profits fell to £9.5m, from £58.4m in the first six months of 2007, prompting the housebuilder to take [...]
Virgin airline bucks gloom, boosts profit August 27, 2008 More business passengers helped boost full-year profits by 21 per cent to £34.8m at Virgin Atlantic despite record fuel prices, the airline revealed yesterday. The long-haul carrier, 51 per cent owned by Sir Richard Branson, said its business passenger numbers rose 22 per cent during the year, as Virgin took market share from British Airways [...]